Democratic Race in Iowa Develops Into Sanders vs. Clinton

There seemed to be a big difference between the Republican and Democratic parties this year. The American public watched on Sept. 16, as all eleven Republican candidates engaged in a heated head-to-head battle to win over the public from frontrunner Donald Trump. The highlight of that night was a strong performance by former Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) CEO Carly Fiorina. Seems like the trend is leaning toward non-politicians, with three major players on the Republican side, Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson all putting up strong fights to become the next President of the United States.
But the general tone of the Republican debate differed from that of the Democratic debate. The GOP debate saw fierce clashes with accusations flying around the room and the defending of ideals, good or bad. The DNC debate had a mellower note. The five democrats rarely pointed fingers and even agreed with one another on many ideas. They put more of the focus against the Republicans rather than each other, showing more of a passive note on the democrats side when it comes fighting for votes.
The tide has now turned and the democratic candidates are swinging.

With Joe Biden turning down the Presidential bid, and Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb pulling out of the race, the fight between Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have turned into a brawl.

Saturday, at Iowa’s famous Jefferson Jackson dinner, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), without naming names, criticized Clinton’s political career. Even her leadership in controversial issues were put on the table.

One of Sanders’ biggest opposed deals, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, was outspokenly supported by Clinton. Clinton saying that this trade deal is the “gold standard” of trade deals.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade deal that in short will, “promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in our countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections.”

Sanders disagrees with this and believes that this will take away jobs in the U.S. “It is not now, nor has it ever been, the gold standard of trade agreements,” Sanders said.

This is not the only point that Sanders was outspoken about. Sanders, again without naming names, mentioned Clinton’s support for the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 and the support of the Iraq War in 2002. Both were issues that Sanders opposed even though it wasn’t popular at the time, and Clinton supported then, but not now.

Sanders complained that Clinton is only going for what the polls say is popular. “I promise you tonight, as your president I will govern based on principle not poll numbers,” Sanders said.

Clinton was not shy with the rebuttals either. Clinton, during her dinner speech, made comments directed at Sanders’ previous comments from the first debate, saying that she was “shouting” about gun control.

“Well, first of all, I’m not shouting. It’s just when women talk some people think we’re shouting,” Clinton said, accusing his statement as being sexist.

This goes back to the first debate where Sanders’ was put on the defensive by Clinton, based on previous legislations that could be looked at as being “pro-gun”, the opposite idea that most democrats hold.

Sanders, later that Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union”, defended himself by saying “I certainly do not have a problem with women speaking out. And I think what the secretary is doing there is taking words and misapplying them. What I was saying is if we are going make some progress on dealing with these horrific massacres that we’re seeing, is that people have got to stop all over this country talking to each other. It’s not Hillary Clinton,”

Clinton later commented, “Well, what can I say? That’s just not the case. That’s wrong.”

The tides all changed within the Democratic nominees and Clinton’s campaign camp has also noticed. They even accuse Sanders of turning back from his pledge to not launch attacks at fellow contenders.

“I think Bernie Sanders seemed to have a course correction in the [Jefferson Jackson] dinner from one in which he said he wasn’t going to go negative to — to obviously focusing his, you know, his fire on her,” John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, said Sunday on ABC.

This change in direction could be the scavenging for Biden supporters who were left disappointed by the Vice President’s decision to not run. Clinton’s poll numbers actually jumped in Iowa, giving the former Secretary of State a sixty-five percent support to runner-up Bernie Sanders’ twenty-four percent, in the Monmouth University poll.

This poll differs from many other polls showing a closer support margin between the Clinton and Sanders. Some showing the difference being 3-7.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, November 3rd print edition.